Chasing Wolverines With Help From Ultra-Runners

Chasing Wolverines With Help From Ultra-Runners

January 27, 2016 - Wolverines were thought to have disappeared from Utah's northeastern wilderness due to overhunting and trapping. But images from a 2014 camera trap show that this elusive carnivore may be returning to the area. A conservation group founded by National Geographic Emerging Explorer Gregg Treinish is recruiting ultra-runners to help with the exhaustive search for wolverines. The runners' skill in trekking through rough and remote terrain makes them valuable assets in checking camera traps that may hold more clues to the wolverines' existence.

GREGG TREINISH, FOUNDER, ADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EMERGING EXPLORER: This place is on the fringe of so many carnivore species habitat.

In February 2014, a camera trap here that the Department of Wildlife Resources had set up captured a wolverine on camera. That was first time that had happened, ever.

They existed all the way out to the Great Lakes. They existed up in northern Michigan and all around. But they’re not here anymore and they haven’t been here for quite some time. Fur trappers and hunting have really taken them out of existence here.

Because DWR found this one wolverine on camera, the significance of that is that wolverines could potentially be expanding their range into the Uinta Mountain range.

Gregg Treinish SOT: As we have 34 of these camera stations around the range with 30 volunteers like you guys, this effort just isn’t possible any other way.

GREGG TREINISH, FOUNDER, ADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EMERGING EXPLORER: The opportunity was there to study this range but the problem is that the Forest Service, the Department of Wildlife Resource [and] and so many other groups that would be interested in this just don’t have the resources to do it.

Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation is really excited about this partnership with the Forest Service because we can exponentially expand their capabilities of surveying this range without a lot of money. We recruited from the trail running community specifically just because of the long distances to get into 11,000 feet up high up in the range.

CRAIG LLOYD, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: It’s more about being able to just access the cameras and the sites faster. It’s about being able to do it with a greater level of confidence, to be able to move efficiently. I know that I can come in here making my way to a camera [that] that I can do it not just quickly but I can carry everything that I need and be self-reliant.

SARAH EVANS MCCLOSKEY, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: It’s super-satisfying to be able to travel fast and lite in the mountains. I like where it takes you, the views. I like the feeling of being where most people feel it’s too difficult to get.

CRAIG LLOYD, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: As we approach any given camera site, you get within 100 yards [and] your heart begins to beat a little bit.

Craig Lloyd SOT: Do you smell that? That’s more than the last few times.

CRAIG LLOYD, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: That’s part of the excitement¾is we don’t know what kind of disturbance there’s going to be. And regardless of whether it’s been tampered with, you still have the idea of, “Okay, lets check the camera. Lets see what’s on the card.”

Craig Lloyd SOT: “Here we are…”

Sarah Evans McCloskey SOT: “Animals!”

Craig Lloyd SOT: “Love it!”

SARAH EVANS MCCLOSKEY, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: A lot of the best footage is actually been at night. And you look at the pictures and you’re like, “Wow!” In hindsight, I had no idea that we were going to see so many different types of animals. Bears, I didn’t think that we get such cool footage of that.

Sarah Evans McCloskey SOT: “Is that good?”

Craig Lloyd SOT: “Done!”

GREGG TREINISH, FOUNDER, ADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EMERGING EXPLORER: If we don’t find wolverines here, nothing really changes. But we need to continue to protect this habitat and it’s essential that we understand how to protect their ecosystems to give them the best chance to be here.

CRAIG LLOYD, ULTRA-RUNNER VOLUNTEER, UINTA CARNIVORE SURVEY: Being able to be here, being involved with Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation and being part of this research project kind of gives me an opportunity to enjoy the science. The opportunity to know that there are species out here that are elusive, that unknown is what, to me, makes it exciting.

Chasing Wolverines With Help From Ultra-Runners

January 27, 2016 - Wolverines were thought to have disappeared from Utah's northeastern wilderness due to overhunting and trapping. But images from a 2014 camera trap show that this elusive carnivore may be returning to the area. A conservation group founded by National Geographic Emerging Explorer Gregg Treinish is recruiting ultra-runners to help with the exhaustive search for wolverines. The runners' skill in trekking through rough and remote terrain makes them valuable assets in checking camera traps that may hold more clues to the wolverines' existence.